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Introduction

The introduction to Part 3 of this book starts by describing policy and policy design, before moving on to explore how policy and design interact. Policy has several definitions but they all centre on how policy exists to guide decision-making, set out actions and achieve desired outcomes. Policy development is sometimes referred to as policy design, which is unhelpful, as design and development are not the same thing. However, design principles are increasingly used, for example to increase the public impact of policies. Design and designers may be involved at any stage of policy development, from conception to implementation. People with lived experience and members of the public need to be involved for authentic co-design and co-production of policies to be achieved. This introduction describes several examples, including the EU Policy Hub and the UK Policy Lab, where co-design is a fundamental aspect of the work undertaken. A further important aspect is how policy can be used to contribute towards regulations and standards for design. Most often, these focus on user safety, but issues of user experience and user wellbeing are increasingly important. This introduction concludes by introducing the six chapters that comprise the remainder of Part 3 of this book.